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Question 35. Why was there a custom amongst the
Bottiaean maids, as they danced, to sing, ‘Let us go to
Athens’?
Solution. It is reported that the Cretans (in payment
of a vow) sent the firstlings of men to Delphi; but when
such as were sent found no plentiful provision there, they
departed from thence in search of a plantation, and first
sat down at Japygia. From thence they went and possessed that part of Thrace which now they have, Athenians being mixed with them; for it is probable that Minos
did not destroy those young men which the Athenians sent
in a way of tribute, but only detained them in servitude.
Some that were descended from these and were accounted
Cretans were sent with others to Delphi; so the Bottiaean
daughters, in remembrance of their pedigree, sing on their
feast-days, ‘Let us go to Athens.’
[p. 281]
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 2.
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